Dubuque beats Loras 35-23.  That is 12 straight victories for the Spartans over the Duhawks.  Now if you'll excuse me I have a malt beverage in my future.  Stay safe everyone.

1st week of conference play is in the books.

Week 2 schedule
Wartburg @ Simpson 1pm
NWU @ Coe 1pm
Central @ Luther 1pm
Loras @ Dubuque 1pm

3 typically easy picks, and 1 big game in Dubuque

As far as I can tell, Central wins the contest as the first conference school to have their own beer.

https://x.com/CentralCollege/status/1702744484256113133?s=20

Dubuque loses 28-27 after a misses extra point from a bad snap.  Argh.  On to next week.

Iowa and ISU over the past few months have come out with beer sales that will go to their NIL collectives.  I realize it would be minimal, but I am curious if any ARC schools might partner with a local craft brewery in their area to offer a school themed beer and collect a percentage of the profits.  Could that work for anything?  Say all sales of a school themed burger at the local watering hole  have a percentage go to the the school?  Does anyone know of any local NIL deals that have been signed by ARC athletes?

This is directed mainly to Doolittledog, but anyone may respond; Loras has not won more than 5 games in the past 20 years, (per this site's info), so they aren't pointing to a post season run normally. Why not schedule Clarke which is literally next door. I'd suggest the same for Dubuque U, but they have had some good seasons in the past decade so I know they would be concerned about points.

A few reasons.
1 - Hope springs eternal.  While the Duhawks haven't been making any playoff runs of late, the faithful will always think that is just around the corner.  Dubuque was thinking that from 1990-2005 even though wins were hard to come by in those days.
2 - Loras is surrounded by D3 schools they can schedule for non-con games.  And if they can schedule a school from a recruiting area like the Chicagoland you're better off to schedule that D3 team.
3 - Related to #2, a school like Loras won't have trouble finding a D3 opponent like the WIAC schools have with their scheduling troubles. 
4 - I'm not sure Clarke has open dates.  I know that technically only their division games count as conference games, but I think their schedule is loaded with teams on the other side of the HAAC conference. 
5 - I'm pretty sure both UD and Loras have practiced with Clarke in past years, not sure if that still happens. 
6 - My guess is Loras would be open to the idea.  I know like 15-20 years ago Loras and St Ambrose played each other. 

Here is a story about how the USDA has loaned a number of small colleges money and issues smaller schools are facing at the moment.

https://www.kmaland.com/news/feds-call-loan-rural-iowa-university-shutters/article_745de0fe-1120-11ee-9332-dbff1d28640e.html

Quote from: MediaGuy on April 30, 2023, 04:13:05 pm

https://www.kwwl.com/sports/upper-iowa-university-to-drop-seven-sports-programs/article_76fc4482-e6c7-11ed-9af5-3bbef5f3dc40.html

Upper Iowa dropping 7 athletic programs.  Budget constraints and maintaining competitive programs were the reasons given.  Wonder if the new conference is causing increased travel expenses or if this is just the beginning of a larger budget contraction for college athletics in Iowa.

More info from the Des Moines Register...

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/education/2023/05/18/upper-iowa-university-layoffs-campus-closures-enrollment-drop-workforce-development-debt/70228457007/

Upper Iowa laid off 37 employees and closed it's centers in Illinois, Wisconsin, and 4 military bases.  The school took out a $75 million loan from the USDA in 2018.  They were supposed to pay $337,000 a month for 30 years.  USDA allowed the school to pause payments from May 2021 to October 2022.  In November 2022 the USDA allowed Upper Iowa to reduce monthly payments to $30,000 through this June and then $60,000 per month from July through June 2024.

1 week later from the Des Moines Register...

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/education/2023/05/25/upper-iowa-university-layoffs-professors-deans-as-usda-debt-looms-financial-exigency/70256765007/

An additional 13 faculty positions and two deans have been eliminated. 
A financial consulting firm told the school it needed to cut $6.8 million in spending and raise $5.5 million by the end of next month.